Around £14,000 was raised by a charity football match between an Arsenal ex-pro/celebrity XI and a team of Maccabi League players at Edgware Town FC last Sunday.

The event was attended by more than 300 people, including the Mayor of Barnet, Cllr John Marshall, and Tottenham Hotspur legend Joe Kinnear. It was organised by Mark Silverman of Mill Hill in support of Action Duchenne, a national charity aiming to raise funds for research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Mr Silverman’s three-year-old son, Thomas, was diagnosed last year with the severe muscle-wasting condition. Earlier this year, Mr Silverman, 34, who belongs to Mill Hill Synagogue with his wife Abbie, became a director of Action Duchenne.

Mr Silverman said: “Sadly, Thomas’s illness has changed our lives, but he is a happy little boy, and we are anxious to do whatever we can — in the face of poor government funding — to raise money to help find a cure.”

Match victors, with a score of 5-3, were the Arsenal side, which included actors Phil Daniels and Ralf Little.